Especially in difficult economic times, many agricultural businesses are specifically looking for additional sources of income. In view of the fact that they often have warehouses, barns and administrative buildings with large roof areas, more and more farms are recognizing a real opportunity to increase their profitability by installing large solar systems - either by leasing their roof areas to solar system operators or by installing a solar system with subsequent self-consumption of the solar energy generated. It is no longer a secret that solar systems are particularly worthwhile for agricultural businesses.
Through its Q.Partner securenergy GmbH, Q Cells - a globally successful full-service provider of clean energy solutions in the areas of solar systems, solar power plants, energy storage and electricity contracts - has supplied the agricultural cooperatives in Neukönigsaue with more than 6600 Q.PEAK-G5 solar modules and the associated inverters for several solar systems with an output of 2 MWp. To date, securenergy GmbH has already installed solar modules with a total output of over 60 megawatts on almost 250 roofs throughout Germany. The company handles the entire process, from the acquisition of roof and open spaces, to the planning and construction of the photovoltaic systems and the turnkey handover to the investor.
"The agricultural cooperatives in Neukönigsaue had been considering leasing the roof areas of their farm buildings for climate-friendly solar power production for some time," says Felix Polster, Project Manager at securenergy GmbH. "In the end, we opted for components from Q Cells because the product quality, punctual module availability, service and high performance of the modules were a perfect match."
The solar systems will produce around 1900 MWh per year and thus contribute to saving 760 tons ofCO2 annually. The solar power generated will be fed 100 percent into the electricity grid and can therefore be used to supply 480 households with an average electricity consumption of 4000 kWh. "The various farms have many large roof areas that are ideal for generating solar power. The agricultural cooperatives have decided to lease their roof areas so that they can use the proceeds to finance the necessary roof renovation of their buildings and at the same time promote the further expansion of solar energy. The clean electricity generated is then fed directly into the grid by various system operators, who benefit from the income through direct marketing," says Holger Stabernack, Managing Director of securenergy GmbH.
Many medium-sized companies are interested in a solar system, but often consider the implementation of their project to be too planning and capital intensive.
Q Cells has recognized this hurdle and, with its new Power Contracting and System Lease offers, provides two ways for companies to benefit from cost-effective and clean solar power without having to make their own investments. In both models, Q Cells installs a solar system on the roof of the owner or tenant of a building at its own expense and also covers the company's remaining electricity requirements with green electricity from 100 percent renewable sources in Germany and Austria.
